Slow starts causing the Lady Cardinals to play from behind have plagued them all year long, especially recently, and that achilles heel again was the cause of the end of their season after they lost to the Boonville Lady Pirates, 57-51 in the Class 4 District 9 championship game on Saturday.
Boonville knocked down early buckets in the first and Ava Potter kept Clinton in the game with 6 of her 8 points on the night but the Lady Cardinals trailed 18-11 at the end of one.
It was a see-saw second period but the number one seeded Lady Pirates used a 13-11 margin to extend their lead to 31-22 at the break. Briley Wishard knocked down 5 of 6 free throws in the quarter en route to scoring 7 of her team-high 25 points.
A 13-11 advantage for Boonville extended their lead to double-digits at 44-33 at the end of the third.
An 18-13 margin for the Lady Cardinals in the fourth, led by 12 from Wishard, came too late as Boonville held on to advance to the MSHSAA Class 4 state playoffs with the 57-51 win.
Wishard led all scorers with 25 points in her final game in the royal blue, red and white.
The Lady Cardinals ended their season with a record of 17-8.
CLINTON (51): V. Brown, 4; L. Kenney, 0; K. Schaffer, 0; A. Dutcher, 0; C. Berry, 0; S. Wilson, 14; A. Goucher, 0; A. Potter, 8; L. Brauer, 0; B. Wishard, 25.
BOONVILLE (57): A. Eichenberger, 4; K. Cooper, 6; E. Morris, 13; B. Imhoff, 12; R. Wilson, 0; A. Ritchie, 0; E. Eichenberger, 0; K. Drummond, 0; C. Rohrbach, 8; Z. Davis, 14; H. James, 0; M. Schurster, 0; D. Davis, 0; E. Gramlich, 0.
* * *
Earlier in the week, the Lady Cardinals earned their right to play in the title game after defeating the Knob Noster Lady Panthers, 63-46 in the first semifinal.
Clinton jumped out to a 15-11 advantage at the end of the first and then used a big 15-5 margin in the second to build a 30-16 halftime lead.
Knob Noster stormed back in the third to put up 24 points but Clinton nearly matched that output with 21 of their own and hung on to a 51-40 lead.
A 12-6 margin in the fourth sealed the deal for the Lady Cardinals to advance with the 63-46 win.
Big nights by four Lady Cardinals was all they would need as Vyla Brown led the way with 19 points. She was followed by Skyte Wilson with 17, Ava Potter with 14 and Briley Wishard who added 13 points.
CLINTON (63): A. Little, 0; V. Brown, 19; L. Kenney, 0; K. Schaffer, 0; A. Dutcher, 0; C. Berry, 0; S. Wilson, 17; A. Goucher, 0; A. Potter, 14; L. Brauer, 0; B. Wishard, 13.
KNOB NOSTER (46): K. Stewart, 10; A. Goodwin, 4; J. Meyer, 0; E. Goodrich, 21; T. Francis, 5; J. Buzzanga, 4; S. Scarbrough, 2; D. Yates, 0.
* * *
The Clinton Cardinals were defeated in a play-in game last Tuesday night when they were dealt a 65-56 loss at the hands of Knob Noster, thus eliminating them and ending their season with a record of just 4-20.
No scorebook for totals was made available as of press time for this week's Clinton Daily Democrat.
St. Michael the Archangel defeated Nevada, 72-49 on Saturday to claim the boys Class 4 District 13 championship.
